Chicken Pot Pie Baked Potato

Approximately every 7 1/2 days when I was growing up, my mom would make baked potatoes for dinner and we’d load them up with hamburger gravy and all sorts of toppings.

Easiest meal ever (or so says my mom, I was the oblivious kid who never helped out with dinner until I was a senior in high school and my mom put me through college-readiness-boot-camp).

Even though we ate it often, I don’t remember ever getting tired of it. I mean, if it started to feel boring, I’d channel my inner wild child and put olives on top instead of just sour cream and cheese. A little life on the edge never hurt anyone.

Even today, baked potatoes are a solidly comforting delicious meal for me.

A month or so ago, Rebecca, a longtime reader, emailed me to say that she had seen a recipe for chicken pot pie baked potatoes but it needed a facelift and she was challenging me to do it right. And then, she says: “Can you imagine carrots, peas and a creamy sauce poured over a baked potato?

Delish idea.” That sold me right there. I couldn’t get the idea of a chicken pot pie baked potato out of my head (thanks, a lot, Rebecca!).

Potatoes and Toppings:

Directions:

Lightly rub the potatoes with olive oil and wrap each potato in tin foil. Pierce through the foil and skin of the potato with a fork a couple of times.

Bake the potatoes for an hour or until tender.

Toward the end of baking time, make the sauce by melting the butter in a large, 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are crisp-tender (but not mushy), about 5-7 minutes.

Sprinkle the flour over the vegetable mixture and cook, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes. The mixture will be crumbly.

Slowly add 1/2 cup of the chicken broth whisking quickly until thick and combined (adding a little liquid at a time will help avoid lumps). Continue adding 1/2 cup of the broth and milk at a time until it has all been stirred into the skillet and the sauce is smooth and creamy.

Cook the mixture at a low simmer for 5-7 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables are tender and the sauce is thickened.

Stir in the peas and chicken and heat through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over baked potatoes with cheddar cheese and cooked bacon, if desired.

Notes:

This recipe calls for already cooked chicken so plan ahead. If you are working with uncooked chicken, here’s a simple way to cook it up quickly (or you could try cooking it with the vegetables in the first step).

I used to think it unnecessary to wrap the potatoes in foil and/or rub lightly with olive oil and just bake them unwrapped on the oven rack. But we hated how thick and inedible the skins became after baking – if you want soft, tender potato skins, a very, very light rub with olive oil covered in foil and you’re good to go. It’s worth the extra step.

If you like things extra saucy (or your baking potatoes are humongous) you might consider 1 1/2-ing or doubling the sauce.

These turned out great! A healthier and easier way to get our pot pie fix 🙂 We thought the taste of these was similar to loaded fries – yum!I baked two chicken breasts with the potatoes for 20 mins and then shredded them (and mixed with paprika, salt, and pepper) to use for the “sauce.” Thanks for another great recipe!

We loved this! I had never thought of eating this type of a topping on baked potatoes, and am glad that you accepted the challenge to make these. The skin is one of my favorite parts of baked potatoes, so besides rubbing them in olive oil (sometimes we use butter, also awesome) before baking, I like to sprinkle them with salt as well. We’ll definitely be having these again. Thanks Mel!

I made this recipe for dinner one night last week. It was delicious and very quick to come together after you’ve baked the potatoes. I made the recipe for the pot pie sauce exactly as written but it ended up being super thick so I had to almost double the amount of chicken broth & milk to thin the sauce out. It was very good though and I will definitely make it again. I wonder how it would taste using sweet potatoes instead of russets.

Mel, I have been a faithful blog follower of yours for almost 5 years now, and you never cease to amaze me! I have made so so so many of your recipes and know I can always count on you for a delicious meal for any occasion! My family loved these baked potatoes, and I loved how quickly they came together!

Yum! Just had this for dinner and it totally satisfied my craving for chicken pot pie. I poached the chicken in just enough to broth to cover for two hours then shredded it, and it was perfect. Thanks for sharing!

This meal is a keeper! Quick, easy, and full of flavor. Friday’s around here are usually “comfort food meals” but I didn’t want to wait until Friday to try this one. We all agreed this needs to go on Friday’s comfort food menu rotation. With this type of topping, I usually fix homemade biscuits to go under. I loved the idea of a baked potato and felt so much better about eating this “lower fat meal” for us at least. Biscuits were not missed at all.

Hi Mel! I really don’t have time to cook the taters for an hour so I am thinking of giving them a little head start in microwave and then baking the rest of the way! I hope it turns out ok! These look amazing!!!!

Made this for dinner tonight. My sauce was way thicker and not creamy looking like yours–more brown colored instead of your pretty white, but still very good. I will have to add more broth or milk next time. But my whole family loved it! Nice to add something new to the dinner rotation. Thanks Mel!

I thinking of making this for an after-church potato bar luncheon. Do you think it would work if I made it the night before, refrigerated overnight, then re-heated in a crockpot on low or warm for 2-3 hours?

I haven’t tried it that way, Ruth, but my inclination is that yes, it should work. My only concern is overheating the sauce – it will probably get a grainy texture if it’s warmed at too high of a temp so keep an eye on that.

Another idea for the baked potatoes…and one that means no oven on a hot summer day: cook them in the slow cooker! Prepare the potatoes as Mel directs, then toss them in your slow cooker and cook for several hours or until tender. A friend did this and they were fabulous!

These look amazing! We’re having company next weekend (half vegetarians, half meat-lovers), so this will be a perfect meal to whip up as is for the carnivores. For the vegetarians, though, I think I’ll leave out the chicken and chicken broth and instead sub in chickpeas and veggie broth. Do you know if the sauce can be made ahead and then just reheated with good results? Thanks so much for all of your incredible recipes and your wonderful sense of humor! I absolutely A.D.O.R.E. your blog!!!

We are HUGE chicken pot pie lovers here. Like huge. I love the baked potato idea but I must make one ingredient point: cream. I know, I know. But if you double the veggies you can justify it. And your chicken pot pie love will hit new heights. And then you’ll hit the gym.

Want to up the delicious factor on those potatoes in a big way? Now please note I did not say a healthy way:) After washing and poking the potato, replace the olive oil with bacon grease and then salt the potatoes all around. This takes the humble baked potato to roasted deliciousness. Viola! A beautiful bit of potato skin delight awaits for munching after the tasty insides are consumed. Granted this may not be healthy but it is nice every once in a great while.

Yum! This is my kind of meal! My dad was a potato farmer so we ate potatoes without fail EVERY SINGLE day of my life growing up at least once a day, if not twice or more. After I got married I cooked the same way. After a month or so my husband asked if we could have rice so I made stir fry and then the next day it was back to potatoes. A few days later he asked if we could rice again, I was so confused because we had just had stir fry. I had NEVER eaten just plain rice as a side dish.

Looks like another meal all my kids will eat right up! On, a totally different note, I finally got up the courage to try your artisan krusty no knead bread. It worked! Yippee! You are the sole reason I have learned to finally make bread. I am a pro at your whole wheat bread, thanks to the picture tutorial! I was wondering if you have ever done your own sourdough bread or starter? I really want to try sourdough, but it scares me! If you ever wanted to try that and do a post, that would make me really happy! I love your blog, and it has helped me so much with cooking. I love to cook now, and my family finally thinks I am a rock star 🙂

An option to starter: if you make the no knead dough and let it sit in the frig…it sours without the fuss of a starter, i.e. the longer you let it sit before baking (up to 14 days), the more sour it gets.

Totally agree with your mom. Hamburg gravy is the easiest meal ever and that is why I have it planned for our meal tonight. After a long, hectic week of work, this is one of my “wimp out easy on me Friday night meals.” To ease my conscience a little when fixing this comfort food meal, I add mushrooms. 🙂 My meat is already thawed out or I would have switched gears to this delicious sounding recipe. As always, thank you for all you do to share wonderful ideas and meals with us.